The Winona State University Education Leadership Department has partnered with the Minnesota Association of Scholars and the Winona County Historical Society to host Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, in Stark Hall Auditorium.

Wood will discuss how the excessive demand for teaching social justice in history and many other academic disciplines today is widespread, intense and misguided. He will examine the consequences of this trend of politicizing the liberal arts curriculum for students and colleges and will critique the most common justifications for promoting social justice as the major focus of the curriculum.

Wood is the author of “A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in America Now” and “Diversity: The Invention of a Concept,” the latter of which won the Caldwell Award for Leadership in Higher Education from the John Locke Foundation. He is also co-author with Michael Toscano of “What Does Bowdoin Teach?”

Wood is a graduate of Haverford College, Rutgers University, and the University of Rochester, from which he received a Ph.D. in anthropology in 1987. He previously served as provost of The King’s College in New York City, and as the president’s chief of staff at Boston University, where he was also a tenured member of the anthropology department.

This event is free and open to the public. Continuing Education credits will be awarded to area educators for their participation.